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Topic: 80% Whole Wheat with Levain (Read 4634 times)

Iíve added sourdough (Carlís) to my dough recipe and am finally where I want to be in terms of crust flavor and texture. The flavor is complex and slightly sour. Very few would add a sweetener to this dough. Compared to a bakerís yeast crust, the exterior seems thinner and crisper, while the crumb seems moister without being underdone. The crumb has an open grain. The crust is moderately chewy and somewhat foldable. As for dough handling, there is usually a good balance of elasticity and extensibility; and little bench flour is needed.

Most sourdough pizza recipes use a straight mix and extended refrigeration. This recipe with a levain allows a parallel room-temperature soaker.

The recipe uses hard spring whole wheat (home-milled). If using a winter wheat, adjust hydration down. For the refined flour portion, Iíve been using Stone Buhr Bread Flour, which seems stronger than General Mills Better-for-Bread.

Day 1: Mix the soaker (not forgetting salt) and leave at room temp 12-24 hours. Break the starter up in the water and incorporate the flour. After 5 minutes, knead briefly. Cover and leave at room temp until doubled (very roughly 6 hours) or longer for sourer flavor. Then knead briefly and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Allow a 2-hr warm-up for levain. Squeeze soaker and levain together with wet hands, then tear into approx 1-oz pieces. Add remaining water and mix until pieces start to disintegrate. Add bakerís yeast for a consistent rise and mix. Sequentially add the remaining salt, Fruit-Fresh, and oil, mixing well. Incorporate the refined flour by mixing and kneading. Cover on counter for a half hour, and then execute a stretch-and-fold. Refrigerate for several hours. Divide if desired. After warming for 1.5-2.0 hours, execute second stretch-and-fold. After another 1.5 hours, de-gas and form a round. Let rise another 2 hours, then shape, top, and bake.

Finally some photos. The dough was 80% hard red spring whole wheat and 20% all-purpose flour. The dough was 100% sourdough; there was no bakerís yeast. 30% of the flour was prefermented. The levain fermented about 5 hours at room temp, refrigerated overnight, and then warmed on counter 3 hours. The final dough fermented at cool room temp for 8 hours. No soaker was used, as I think itís redundant with long fermentations. I ran low on pepperoni. In spite of my regimen of stretch-and-folds, the proofed dough was quite extensible.

For this pie, I allowed the stretched and shaped skin to rise under a damp cloth for an hour, before topping. Unfortunately, the proofing caused loss of the cornicione.

My latest efforts have used overnight, room-temperature soakers and levains. Smaller than before, each is about a quarter of the flour. Iíve dropped the Fruit Fresh and bakerís yeast. Refrigeration is normally not necessary. Warm water sometimes is.

Both of the pizzas in this thread look terrific. We can all use an occasional reminder how pizzas like yours carry a lot of nutritional value and are really healthy for you. Milling your own flour is also impressive.

Norma;With a whole-wheat flour, or multi-grain blend, it is all but impossible to achieve full hydration unless some form of a soaker is employed. In this case the soaker is water, whole-wheat flour and salt. It is set aside and allowed to hydrate for roughly 12-hours. I normally allow 1 to 2-hours or overnight in the cooler, to hydrate the whole-wheat flour. Failure to use a soaker can, and usually does result in a dry, stiff dough that doesn't expand well during baking (lacks ovenspring) and has a dense, heavy crumb structure.Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Pete,Thanks for the comments. In the interest of health, I decided not to put both whole-milk cheese and sausage on the same pizza.

Norma,Whole wheat is loaded with enzymes. A room-temperature, salted soaker allows extra time for the amylase enzymes to convert damaged starch to sugar, while controlling the protease. I think itís more worthwhile with spring wheat, which has more damaged starch than winter wheat. Bran is also softened. In the case of a long sourdough fermentation, the soaker doesnít add much, but itís hardly any extra effort.

Charbro, have you had any success with 100% whole wheat? I mill my own wheat as well ( Using the Whisper / Wonder Mill ) though I didn't realize you adjust the hydration ratio whether winter or spring wheat is used. The last several weeks I have been making 3 pies at a time, 1 red spring, 1 50% red 50% winter white, and 1 100 % winter white with slight changes in the recipe and cooking methods. The 100% winter white has been the hardest to get right, now I realize I must have been overhydrating it. It also seems to get over fermented even though the mixing time and fermentation times are the same as the 100% winter red.

Norma;With a whole-wheat flour, or multi-grain blend, it is all but impossible to achieve full hydration unless some form of a soaker is employed. In this case the soaker is water, whole-wheat flour and salt. It is set aside and allowed to hydrate for roughly 12-hours. I normally allow 1 to 2-hours or overnight in the cooler, to hydrate the whole-wheat flour. Failure to use a soaker can, and usually does result in a dry, stiff dough that doesn't expand well during baking (lacks ovenspring) and has a dense, heavy crumb structure.Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Norma,Whole wheat is loaded with enzymes. A room-temperature, salted soaker allows extra time for the amylase enzymes to convert damaged starch to sugar, while controlling the protease. I think itís more worthwhile with spring wheat, which has more damaged starch than winter wheat. Bran is also softened. In the case of a long sourdough fermentation, the soaker doesnít add much, but itís hardly any extra effort.

I use a Retsel Mil-Rite for milling.

cb

Tom and charbo,

Thanks so much for explaining how to use a soaker and why it is almost impossible to achieve full hydration, unless some kind of soaker is used for whole-wheat flour.

I didnít even know whole wheat is loaded with enzymes. Thanks for explaining a room-temperature, salted soaker and how it allows extra time for the amylase enzymes to convert the damaged starch to sugar, while controlling the protease. I did find out yesterday I have soft winter wheat grains the farmer gave to me right out of the field. I might try your method in the near future. It it always interesting to learn something new.